CNN=Politics Daily is The Best Political Podcast from the Best Political Team.

(CNN) — With less than a week to go until the critical primaries in Indiana and North Carolina, it's getting close to crunch time for Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

In the latest episode of CNN=Politics Daily, Jessica Yellin reports on how Clinton and Obama are courting blue collar voters in Indiana and courting their party's superdelegates.

In an effort to dissuade the so-called "Reagan Democrats" from choosing Sen. John McCain in the general election, unions in several key states have already begun to target the Republican Party's presumptive nominee. Chief National Correspondent John King is out on the campaign trail with McCain. King explains what the unions are up to and what McCain intends to do to court a key group which both he and the Democrats will likely need to win the White House.

As Clinton and Obama continue to battle it out in the remaining primaries, their party has yet to resolve how to handle the delegations of Florida and Michigan — two states who held their primaries in violation of the Democratic National Committee's rules and were punished by being stripped of all their delegates to the nominating convention. Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider reports on a new proposal by Michigan's congressional delegation to apportion the state's delegates between Clinton and Obama and allow the state's delegation to participate in the convention.

Clinton, Obama, and McCain have been trading barbs lately over who has the best plan to tackle rising gas prices. Dan Lothian reports on the proposals of the three candidates.

Finally, a union leader in Indiana gave Sen. Clinton an unusual introduction Wednesday. Watch Clinton be complimented for her "fortitude."

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Paul's book is No. 1 on Amazon.com

(CNN) — Ron Paul’s loyal supporters helped him set campaign fundraising records and capture more delegates during his presidential run than some of his high-profile Republican rivals. They even managed to briefly shut down Nevada’s GOP convention earlier this month over a rules change controversy.

Now they’ve taken his latest book to the top of the Amazon.com bestseller list.

“The Revolution: A Manifesto”, released earlier this month, is currently No. 1 on the Web site’s list of top sellers, besting even Oprah’s latest Book Club selection.

“Despite a media blackout, this septuagenarian physician-turned-congressman sparked a movement that has attracted a legion of young, dedicated, enthusiastic supporters . . . a phenomenon that has amazed veteran political observers and made more than one political rival envious,” boasts the book’s product description, adding: “Candidates across America are already running as ‘Ron Paul Republicans.’”

Listen to the Obama's remarks Wednesday.

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana (CNN) –- Democrat Barack Obama's wife Michelle chose silence Wednesday when the couple were asked about recent comments made by their former pastor, and the harsh words Sen. Obama had for him Tuesday.

In a question-and-answer session with voters, the two were asked what kind of toll it takes on them to have to turn their backs on someone who had been good to them in the past.

Sen. Obama responded first, saying he "made a statement yesterday that was hard to make."

"What we want to do now though is to make sure that this doesn’t continue to be a perpetual distraction," he said.

Then he turned to his other half.

"Michelle, do you have anything to add to that?" After a brief hesitation he said, "You do, but…" He stopped and smiled as she shook her head.

The audience laughed.

"Remember, there are a lot of reporters around," he said, joining in the laughter.

Watch Michelle Obama speak out tonight in an interview with CNN's Suzanne Malveaux at 8:20 p.m. ET, with an extended version airing at on AC 360 at 10 p.m. ET

(CNN) — John McCain responded to a question about groups that continue to use his "100 years" remark in negative ads by directing his fire at Barack Obama.

The presumptive Republican nominee said that every objective assessment of “the distortion of my statement about our involvement in Iraq is totally, totally false.

“And it’s a little distressing to me when Senator Obama says that he wants to run a very great campaign that is above politics, and above the mundane aspects of political campaigns, and then keeps turning around and saying and totally falsifying my statement,” which said it was acceptable to have troops in Iraq along the lines of the long-term U.S. presence in South Korea, said McCain.

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Obama is up with a new ad in Indiana and North Carolina.

(CNN) — Less than a day after Hillary Clinton’s campaign debuted an ad that attacked Barack Obama for opposing a gas tax holiday, the Illinois senator’s campaign unveiled a new 60-second spot that dubs the idea an ineffective quick fix.

The ad, titled “Truth” will run in both Indiana and North Carolina, where voters head to the polls May 6. Both Democratic presidential hopefuls have spent the week sparring over the proposal – Obama calls the idea a gimmick; Clinton says it is necessary to give consumers immediate relief from soaring fuel costs.

In the spot, Obama calls for an investigation of the nation’s oil companies for price gouging – a position shared by Clinton — and says Congress should adopt a long-term energy strategy that includes higher fuel efficiency standards and a greater investment in alternative fuels.

“We could suspend the gas tax for 6 months, but that’s not going to bring down gas prices long-term. You’re gonna save about 25, 30 dollars…or half a tank of gas,” he says. “That’s typical of how Washington works. There’s a problem, everybody’s upset about gas prices – let’s find some short-term, quick-fix, that we can say we did something even though, even though we’re not really doing anything.”

(Full script after the jump)

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A new Indiana ad hits Obama on economic issues.

(CNN) – Barack Obama’s campaign has filed a formal complaint over a pro-Hillary Clinton group running ads attacking the Illinois senator on jobs and the economy in the critical primary state of Indiana.

The American Leadership Project, which includes veterans of the Clinton administration and longtime supporters, is a “527,” which means it is not bound by federal campaign finance laws as long as it does not directly advocate on behalf of a particular candidate.

The group announced earlier this week that it was planning to buy $700,000 worth of airtime in the state leading up to Tuesday’s vote. It has aired other spots in support of Clinton in key primary states like Pennsylvania, Ohio and Texas.

The Obama campaign planned a conference call this morning with general counsel Bob Bauer to discuss the specifics of the complaint filed Wednesday with the Federal Elections Commission.

(updated with ALP response after the jump)

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Watch Rep. Clyburn's interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

WASHINGTON (CNN)—House Majority Whip James Clyburn has a message for Rev. Jeremiah Wright: “Silence is golden.”

The Democratic congressman – who has not yet publicly backed a candidate – expressed relief over the controversial minister’s absence from the campaign trail the day after Barack Obama expressed called his comments “divisive and destructive.”

“Please let us go forward with this campaign… so that we can chalk a way forward that will be a benefit to our children and grandchildren,” Clyburn said in a message to Wright on CNN Wednesday, telling the pastor directly he should not continue to “inject himself” into the national discussion.

The South Carolina congressman repeated his pledge to remain neutral until a nominee is chosen, but did say he expected a clear nominee “within days” of the last Democratic primary contest on June 3.

“What I am trying to do is maintain a climate within our Democratic Party that allows good viable debate to take place that will add value to this campaign,” Clyburn told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.

He rejected the notion that the candidate with the most pledged delegates should be the nominee, telling CNN that the nomination should be decided based on several important measures, including popular vote totals, the number of states a candidate has won, and an assessment of who will be most competitive against Republican John McCain in November.

Clinton sharply criticized Wright Wednesday.

(CNN) — Hillary Clinton said Wednesday she personally took offense to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's recent comments, the New York senator’s harshest assessment yet of Barack Obama's former minister.

"I think it’s offensive and outrageous. I’m going to express my opinion, others can express theirs," Clinton told Fox’s Bill O'Reilly. "It is part of just, you know, an atmosphere we’re in today.”

The comments appear to be a shift in Clinton’s tone on the matter. On Tuesday she criticized Republican presidential nominee John McCain for not doing enough to stop Republican ads running in North Carolina and Mississippi that feature Wright's comments.

"I regret the efforts by the Republicans to politicize this matter," Clinton said of the ad.

Speaking at the National Press Club Monday, Wright did not back down from some of his controversial remarks, including those that seemed to suggest the U.S. government might be responsible for the spread of AIDS among African-Americans, and his equation of U.S. wartime efforts with terrorism.

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FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:

Ever since Super Tuesday, Barack Obama has been outscoring Hillary Clinton big time when it comes to picking up support from the superdelegates. The Wall Street Journal suggests he's close to taking the lead, and that if he doesn't stumble badly in Indiana or North Carolina next week enough of them will break his way after June third to give him the nomination.

Seems simple enough. He leads in pledged delegates and she can't catch him there. He's won more states, has more popular votes, is a much better fund-raiser–very important consideration–and has shown he can appeal to Independents and Republicans. Piece of cake. Just run out the clock and get ready for McCain.

Yesterday on this program former President Carter, who is a superdelegate, was asked if he would support the candidate he voted for in the Georgia primary. His answer was, "Yes, unless I change my mind."

And therein lies the problem for Barack Obama.

To read more and contribute to the Cafferty File discussion click here

ALLENTOWN, Pennsylvania (CNN) – In a press conference Wednesday, John McCain trained his fire on Barack Obama’s opposition to a so-called “gas tax holiday,” accusing the Democratic presidential hopeful of hypocrisy.

On the gas tax issue, McCain said that while Obama refuses to endorse “a gas tax holiday” later this summer, he had “voted for it several times when the price of gasoline was about a dollar and a half per gallon,” referring to Obama's record in the Illinois state senate.

Obama, along with many economic analysts, has said the gas tax holiday – a suspension of the gasoline tax designed to put a few more dollars in the pockets of summer travelers – is little more than a “gimmick” to curry favor with voters.

McCain and Hillary Clinton both support a gas tax holiday. Despite criticism from analysts, McCain insisted he does not see temporary gas tax relief as a cure-all.

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Childers is Mississippi Democratic congressional candidate.

(CNN) — A Mississippi Democratic congressional candidate in a tight race is publicly distancing himself from Barack Obama in a new television ad after Republicans attempted to link him to the Illinois senator and his controversial former pastor.

"This campaign has been one for the books. My family has heard the lies and attacks linking me to politicians I don't know and have never even met," Travis Childers, a congressional candidate in Mississippi's First District, says in the television spot.

The comments appear to be a reference to Obama, who was the subject of an ad financed by Childers’ Republican opponent, Greg Davis. That ad criticized Childers for being "endorsed by liberal Barack Obama" and for not publicly denouncing the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's controversial comments. Hillary Clinton and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are also briefly mentioned in the ad.

“Senator Obama hasn’t endorsed my candidacy,” Childers told reporters Monday. “I have not been in contact with his campaign nor has he been in contact with mine.”

The National Republican Congressional Committee said Childers' new ad "not only says a lot about himself, but also about the toxicity an Obama candidacy can bring to Democratic campaigns down-ballot."

A special election for the open House seat is set for May 13.

Rove says McCain needs open up more.

(CNN) — The man largely credited for organizing a campaign to defeat John McCain in 2000 now has some advice for the Arizona senator: Stop being so private.

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, former top Bush adviser Karl Rove called McCain "one of the most private individuals to run for president in history," and said the presumptive Republican nominee must reveal more about his unique life story in order to win the presidency.

"Private people like Mr. McCain are rare in politics for a reason," Rove writes. "Candidates who are uncomfortable sharing their interior lives limit their appeal. But if Mr. McCain is to win the election this fall, he has to open up."

Specifically, Rove says McCain should reveal more about his wartime heroics and days as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. He also says McCain should spend more time highlighting the fact he and his wife took in a sick Bangladeshi child in 1991, their adopted daughter Bridget.

"Mr. McCain cannot make this a biography-only campaign – but he can't afford to make it a biography-free campaign either," Rove writes. "Unless he opens up more, many voters will never know the experiences of his life that show his character, integrity and essential decency.

“There is something admirable in his resilience, but he needs to overcome it."

Blitzer: The silence from Wright since Obama's Tuesday remarks has been 'thunderous'

WASHINGTON (CNN) — As I write this, there still has been no reaction from the Rev. Jeremiah Wright to Senator Barack Obama’s sharp condemnation of his former pastor’s comments at the National Press Club in Washington on Monday. This silence from Wright – so far – is significant. Some might even say this silence is thunderous.

Like dozens of reporters, I called Wright’s spokesperson to get his reaction. She told me he has so far not issued any written statement or made any public statement. I don’t know if that silence will remain in place. But for now, it’s good news for the Democratic presidential frontrunner. He and his supporters would love this whole story to simply go away.

I must say that when Obama blasted Wright Tuesday afternoon, I suspected that the pastor would respond quickly with a counter-blast of his own. Here was a man who is not shy. He had made a very deliberate decision to defend himself in a television interview last Friday night with Bill Moyers, in a major address at a NAACP meeting in Detroit Sunday night, and a question and answer news conference at the National Press Club on Monday. I didn’t think he would go into silence mode after hearing Obama’s very strong statement.

But now, more than 24 hours after Obama’s very blunt condemnation of Wright, we have still heard nothing from him. Have intermediaries advised him to shut up, especially in these critical days before the Indiana and North Carolina primaries? Or, has he decided on his own that enough is enough? Fair questions. I don’t have answers.

CNN Senior Political Correspondent Candy Crowley.

(CNN) — The New Hampshire Political Library is awarding CNN's Candy Crowley with a New Hampshire Primary Award Wednesday for her outstanding political coverage.

Serving as CNN's Senior Political Correspondent, Crowley braved the New England cold to report extensively on the New Hampshire primary earlier this year.

Former Sen. Bill Bradley, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, and former New Hampshire Gov. Walter Peterson are also among those who are to be honored Wednesday evening.

The New Hampshire Political Library describes itself as a non partisan, non-profit organization with a mission of promoting the state's first-in-the-nation presidential primary status.

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Watch Bill Clinton's comments Wednesday.

(CNN) – Campaigning for his wife in North Carolina, former President Bill Clinton said Wednesday that he’d be “very surprised if oil goes below a hundred dollars a barrel again in my lifetime.”

“There is a limited amount of oil in the ground and everyday more and more people can afford to buy it so they are gonna bid the price up,” said Clinton, who added that drivers have been forced to choose “between driving to work and having enough food for their kids.”

His wife Hillary Clinton has proposed a gas tax holiday – paid for in part by higher taxes on oil companies — that would give consumers a price break at the pump this summer. The New York senator has also called for a Federal Trade Commission investigation into possible market manipulation by oil companies or speculators.

(CNN) — The superdelegate deluge continued Wednesday afternoon with the announcement of two new endorsements.

Luisette Cabanas, an unpledged superdelegate from Puerto Rico, is backing Hillary Clinton. California Rep. Lois Capps is supporting Barack Obama. (Capps is the mother-in-law of Obama Press Secretary Bill Burton.)

So far, the Clinton campaign has released the names of four new superdelegate supporters in the last 24 hours, and the Obama campaign has named five.

MoveOn is launching a massive anti-McCain ad campaign.

(CNN) – MoveOn.org announced Wednesday they are launching their massive television ad buy aimed at presumptive Republican nominee John McCain with a new spot tomorrow, the fifth anniversary of President Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” speech.

The 30-second ad, funded by the group’s donors and its political action committee, marks the start of the liberal advocacy group’s million dollar, month-long ad campaign aimed at the Arizona senator.

MoveOn will spend $160,000 to air the new ad — titled “Candles” — on cable as well as on broadcast networks in Iowa and New Mexico, where the McCain campaign is currently on the air without competition from either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama.

“MoveOn.org is attempting to smear Senator McCain just like it smeared General Petraeus. MoveOn.org is joining Barack Obama and the DNC in maliciously misquoting John McCain,” said Republican National Committee spokesman Alex Conant. “At nearly every event, Obama bemoans the ‘negative tone’ of politics, even while groups that support him are now running negative ads. Now, Obama should prove his rhetoric is more than ‘just words’ and stand up to MoveOn.org.”

(updated with MoveOn response after the jump)

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Hill, who introduced Clinton at a rally last Friday, said Wednesday he is backing Obama.

(CNN) – Barack Obama's campaign announced Wednesday Indiana Rep. Baron Hill has endorsed the Illinois senator — the fourth new superdelegate the campaign has announced in the last 24 hours.

"If we are going to develop real solutions for Hoosier families, for America’s families, we have to move past the partisan gridlock," Hill said in a statement released by the Obama campaign. "I believe both Senator Clinton and Senator Obama want to do that and I believe both are formidable candidates. But, I also believe that only one of them truly can."

The Clinton campaign has announced three new superdelegates in the last 24 hours. More than 300 have yet to publicly back a candidate.

Watch Clinton's new ad called Maya.

(CNN)—Legendary poet Maya Angelou appears to have increased her role in Hillary Clinton’s campaign over the past week — first releasing an open letter touting the New York senator’s character and now staring in a new 60 second television ad.

In the ad called “Maya,” Angelou touts Clinton’s mission of reaching out to working class voters.

“Hillary Clinton is a prayer of every American who really longs for fair play,” Angelou says. “Working men and women have had their jobs snatched from underneath them, their homes snatched away from them. And what we need, I think, is a person, a President who can make a difference in our country.”

The ad is airing in North Carolina, less than a week before the states primary on May 6.

Watch Dana Bash's interview with Elizabeth Edwards.

(CNN)—Elizabeth Edwards, who has made her opposition to John McCain’s health care policy evident in recent months, kept up her assault on his newly-released health care proposal Tuesday, calling the plan a complete “disaster.”

“The fear of a government-run program is completely a false boogeyman in this race,” since neither Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton have proposed a government takeover of the nation’s health care system, Edwards told CNN’s Dana Bash

“Senator McCain has decided if he puts up this red herring that he’ll be able to shoot it down and make him look better,” said Edwards.

The presumptive Republican nominee is in the midst of a week-long tour highlighting his own newly-announced health care reform proposal, which emphasizes personal responsibility and market-driven savings.

“We must move away from a system that is fragmented and pays for expensive procedures toward one where a family has a medical home…where the focus is on affordable quality outcomes,” McCain said earlier this week.

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